xbox

After playing Guitar Hero 2 until I got to the death metal levels, and hating most of the songs in Guitar Hero 3, I wasn't sure what to expect from Rock Band. I needn't be worried however, since Rock Band is probably the coolest video game ever. For the uninitiated, it comes (in the special edition), with a guitar (better than the GH guitars), a drum set, and a microphone. You can buy another guitar if you want and have someone playing bass as well as lead. In any case, that's your band. Leif and I formed our own band with him on guitar and me on drums, and I have to say that I'm having a blast on this. I read somewhere that playing the RB drums is close to playing the real drums (closer than the other instruments get to their counterparts at least), and it's definitely hard. I've been playing on Medium level, except for 1 song ("Wanted Dead or Alive") which I'm doing on Hard, and it's so...much....fun. We've spent most of the weekend playing, or when Leif got too tired, I started playing in solo mode.

The songs are so much better than what came in GH 2 and 3, that so far I haven't found one that I haven't liked.

Dear Red Octane,

I hate you guys, I really really hate you guys. Prior to you releasing Guitar Hero 2 for the Xbox 360, I had played it for maybe 20 minutes in a Best Buy (going during the day has its benefits) on a PS2 system they had set up. I thought to myself, "well, that's pretty darn cool, I hope it comes out for the 360 at some point." It did, and now I hate you guys since I can't stop playing it.

Granted everything past level 5 is death metal and I can't stand it, but who knew I'd sit and spend hours trying to learn "Cherry Pie" or "Shout at the Devil" on hard? Not just learning them, no doubt, but actually trying to 5-star them? I was so excited today when I hit 96% with "Cherry Pie" on hard that I raced upstairs to tell Leif of my achievement. You would've thought I won some major award, but nope, just my first over 90% song on hard. If it weren't for "guitar solo B" then I would have hit 100, so I still have something to work towards.

Thanks to you, I can't get songs like "Surrender" out of my head, and not only that, but when I hear them in my head, I envision the Guitar Hero notes used to play them. I'm addicted to your stupid game!

We did have some exciting times last week when our friends Ryan and Carol were in town. Rather than just sit and watch a movie at the end of the day, we all played some Guitar Hero, either in career mode or in multiplayer. It made for some entertaining evenings, and by the time they left, we had unlocked all 8 levels and multiple bonus guitars and characters.

Please make the madness stop.